View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Marion say when Agnes asked if she could finish her degree?

2. How does Hortensia feel that Peter does not understand her work?

3. At the end of Chapter Thirteen, Hortensia concludes that doing what with someone is an intimate experience?

4. Why does Hortensia regret ending her first pregnancy?

5. Agnes’s attitude towards Marion could best be described as what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Hortensia mock Marion’s attraction to Frikkie?

2. How does Peter feel about Hortensia’s career?

3. How does Marion feel about the torture schematics she finds at the library?

4. Why did Hortensia and Peter not have children?

5. Why does Hortensia say she does not want to “absolve” Marion?

6. What was Marion’s teacher “Queen Victoria” attempting to educate her students regarding?

7. Why does Hortensia feel “at home again” after she and Marion fight?

8. Why does Hortensia slap Marion?

9. Why does Marion struggle to admit her feelings to Ludmilla?

10. Why is the fact that Hortensia had an abortion significant?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is dialogue essential to the major themes of the novel? What different types of conversations are had and how do they contribute to both the plot and ideas of the book?

Essay Topic 2

How does South Africa’s history of Apartheid impact the plot of The Woman Next Door? In what ways does this history impact the setting? In what ways does it impact the relationships between the characters?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and dissect Hortensia’s complicated reaction to Peter’s death. Point to specific scenes from the novel that reveal her conflicting emotions.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 658 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample